Emotional Day

Busy day today. We were due at my sister’s house in Chesterfield for about 11.30a.m. so we set out early and stopped at Arkwright’s Mill in Cromford for a leg stretch and a cup of coffee. We also buy our flour there for bread making when we can’t get as far as the mill at Rowsley. We had a lovely lunch with J & R and swapped cards and presents. J wanted P to re-install something on her computer so R to us to the Nursing home to visit Dad. This was, of course, the most difficult part of the day. I had last seen him in the Summer and J had warned me that he had changed for the worse, he had lost so much weight and was very gaunt around the face. As usual he had no idea who we were but we took him cards from the family and sat with him for over an hour. When we last visited in the late summer he chatted away about something – we never know what he talks about – sometimes he is back in the 1920s when he was a youngster. This time he couldn’t speak very much without a huge effort. When we left him he was drinking tea and eating biscuits. He will be 92 in February but we both wonder if he will make it. I got home feeling very emotional and can't as yet express how I feel.